One of the signature events of San Diego Beer Week is the Brewers Guild Festival. With almost every San Diego beer brewery participating, a picturesque location, plenty of food options and live music this was the place to be on Saturday.

After being introduced to Societe at the NKOTB beer event, I arranged a guided tour and tasting at the brewery for me and a few friends on September 14th. I was excited they were willing to take us around their facility and talk about their beers. They were the surprise hit of the NKOTB and I was impressed with their quality beer instantly.

When we arrived at the brewery I was really happy with the facility. It was a large open tasting room, with clear views of all the brewing equipment and the cold room where the barrels for the sour beers are stored. The tasting room has large benches, stand up tables and a lot of bar space. It felt comfortable, open and inviting.

Travis Smith introduced himself (he’s one of the founders), and we jumped right into tasting the first beer, the Harlot. After we grabbed our beers, we started the tour. As we entered the actual brewing section, he explained the Harlot was the first beer produced by Societe. It’s a light, crisp Belgian that really has something special in the subtleties of the taste. You get a mild floral and fruitiness that goes with tons of food or moods, a versatile beer that could easily be an everyday drinker. He said that’s why this is the beer he drinks the most – life is about occasions, and the Harlot goes with any.Continue reading “Societe Brewing Through Sore Eyes”

On August 29th I attended a great food event at the Handlery Hotel. For only $25 each person got 3/4 lb Crawfish, 1/2 lb Shrimp, 1/2 lb Andouille Sausage, 1/2 lb red potatos and corn. The Chef, Karl Prohaska, had prepared the boil bags ahead of time and set up a boil while you wait station at the pool. If you haven’t spent anytime at the Handlery, I highly recommend coming out to their weekly pool parties to get a feel for fun side of this hotel. It took about 4 minutes for each bag to boil and each guest to receive their feast. The Chef made a great decision serving the giant meal in a roasting pan, no plate could hope to contain such a bounty. The Old Bay flavor of the boil really came through in the crawfish, shrimp and potatoes. It was far more than all you could eat. The atmosphere at the pool was fun and relaxed, the band grooved while patrons enjoyed their meals and drinks. I had a great night, definitely more fun than Wednesday normally holds. I hope to see you at the upcoming Beer Week events, watch out for a post about my Societe Brewery visit later this month and let me know if there is a beer or food event you think I should attend.

It should be no surprise that I am a big beer fan. Lately I have been invited to cover some beer events and could not be happier. This event was held on Thursday, July 19th and featured more than 12 new San Diego breweries and several great food selections from local chefs, all to benefit a great local charity, Wounded Warrior Homes. Some of the highlight breweries for me were Societe, Hess, Manzanita and Roughdraft. On the food side of the festival the Handlery’s chef and organizer of the event, Karl Prohaska, had the winning dish with Toronado and Slater’s 50/50 right there. This event was a smaller, more accessible event than the main festival held annually. Tickets were limited, the event was held within the hotel grounds, not in the parking lot, breweries and chefs were intermingled with plenty of room to walk around and socialize. I enjoyed the size of this event, I was able to talk to the breweries and chefs more that at the larger event. I had a great time and look forward to the next event put on by the excellent staff at the Handlery Hotel. Make sure to join the Mission Valley Craft Beer and Food Festival Facebook group to keep up to date with upcoming events!

The Mission Valley Craft Beer and Food Festival happened last Sunday and I am thrilled I had the chance to cover this event. A great day full of amazing craft beer and local chefs sharing their best with us all to help out an awesome charity, Wounded Warrior Homes. They provide long term housing and assistance for our wounded and traumatized soldiers, contact and support them if you are able.

The festival itself was laid out very well with ample room to move about, socialize and have fun. The bands played happy rocking music with Geezer’s performance topping the day for me. There were tons of great breweries, some of my favorites included San Diego Beer Co’s fresh hop filter, Hangar 24’s Columbus IPA, 1/2 Arrogant Bastard 1/2 Ruination from Stone and the Big Black Stout from Pariaha. The big winners on the food side for me were Slater 50/50’s burger with egg, the beer snowcone from Gaijin, tri tip from Baker’s Shakers and Pubcakes. The event was a great success judging from the reaction of my friends, the staff and the crowd in general. I will update the article when all the numbers are in and I will be at every beer/food event Karl, Matt and the staff of the Handlery Hotel host from now on.